


Last Drive

by Annide



Series: 911 Weeks [28]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 911CrackWeek2020, Crack and Angst, Gen, Goodbyes, POV Inanimate Object
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27445456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annide/pseuds/Annide
Summary: As the 118 is on its way to a rescue, the road disappears under them, leaving the fire truck hanging half over the edge of a cliff.
Series: 911 Weeks [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808203
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	Last Drive

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 911 Crack Week Day 1: Crangst

It was a nice day to go out to the cliffs. The fire truck always enjoyed going on longer drives and getting to climb up. It always worried a little about getting too close to the side and the ground giving way under it, but it never happened. The firefighters inside would never take that risk. More for their own safety, and the one of the people they were on their way to help, but still, somewhere inside, the truck believed they did care about it somewhat.

Buck was driving today. Not its favourite, but it appreciated the enthusiasm. And while Buck may have made it go places it didn’t necessarily want to, and witness things he definitely didn’t want to, he never caused it any damage. Which was something to appreciate.

They were on the road by the side of the cliff, not far from their destination when a small earthquake shook the ground under them, barely enough to be felt. In fact, with the rumble of the truck and the shake from the uneven terrain, none of the firefighters felt anything. The truck did. It could feel the vibration under its wheels as the earth moved, right up until the cliff gave way and the road disappeared right in front of them. Too close for them to stop on time.

“Everyone stay calm, no one move!” The captain ordered. “We have to wait until the truck stabilises before we do anything.”

The truck hung halfway over the edge. For now, it was still tilting back and forth, its back wheels sometimes touching the road, sometimes lifting up. Its front wheels, however, were nowhere near solid ground. They floated up over the new hole in the cliff side, threatening to pull it entirely down at the slightest movement. If there was even the slightest trimmer in the earth, it would destabilise it and make it and everyone inside fall to their death.

The fire truck knew it was over for it. The second the firefighters made it out, they would let it fall off to its destruction. As if they hadn’t spent all of these years together, rushing to emergencies, saving lives together. The truck had thought it was a member of the team, but they were ready to let it go as soon as things got hard. It could almost feel the gaze of the ambulance, safely behind with all of its wheels on the road.

The captain radioed out for another team to respond to the emergency they were going to. He also asked for back up to help them, but insisted they could handle it for now since the back wheels had settled on to the road. The team on the ambulance managed to grab rope and tools from the side of the truck to secure it to the ground.

_Wish I’d said goodbye to the ladder truck before I left, now we’ll never see each other again, after all these years working side by side._

The truck thought as the firefighters started working on a plan to get out. They would move one at a time, slowly and carefully until everyone was out. The truck hoped for the best. As sad as it was that it was the end for it, it still wanted its firefighters to make it out alive. It cared about them as if they were its family, its children. It wanted the best for them, it wanted to keep them safe.

“Alright, Hen, you’re next.” The captain said after the truck had felt Buck jump out of its back and onto solid ground.

“No, Cap, it’s your turn.”

“I’m the captain, I’m not getting out until my entire team is safe.”

“Yeah, that was a good sentiment for the captain of the Titanic, but this isn’t a sinking ship. You’re sitting up front, that’s where we need to take weight off first.”

“Then I’ll join you in the back and you can go.”

“That’d be too much movement. Come on, go.”

Finding no more argument, the captain let out a sigh and proceeded to move toward the back. The truck shook a little at the sudden emptiness of the front seat. He waited next to the others while it stabilised again. Then, he went out of the door held open by Eddie and up to the truck’s roof until he could walk all the way across it and join Buck on the road.

Hen followed. She gave a little tap on the seat as she did, a goodbye of sorts. The truck appreciated it. The acknowledgement of all the memories they’d all shared. The acknowledgement of the truck’s doomed existence. The acknowledgement that they would never see each other again. The truck wished it could reciprocate the sentiment, but alas it couldn’t.

The boys argued over who should go first, but in the end, it was simpler for Eddie to keep holding the door while Chimney left. It saddened the truck to think that after all this time, it would die without ever learning how he got that nickname. Not once had they told the story in its vicinity. It felt cheated. The ladder truck knew and wouldn’t tell it. As if it didn’t already have everything. When people thought of fire trucks, they always thought of the ladder truck. The ladder truck got all the glory, as if it was the only one doing the job. This truck was just as important, and so was the ambulance. The ladder truck hadn’t even needed to come on this call, proof that it was overrated.

Eddie was the last one to go. He hadn’t been around as long, but the truck had still gotten attached to him. It remembered his son coming for a ride and the pure unbridled joy that emanated from both of them. Ah, how the nostalgia was grabbing at it in the last moments. It was almost poetic.

With the last firefighter out, they let go and cut the ropes. The fire truck felt itself lean forward dangerously, unable to stop the pull of gravity. If it could have, it would’ve screamed the whole way down, but it didn’t have a voice of its own. Only one thought came to it at the moment of the inevitable crash:

_Ow._


End file.
